Technology in brain research develops so fast that if you do not jump on the bandwagon you may be left behind for good. It was this development that had made it possible for scientists working in sync under the leadership of MTA KOKI to discover a neural path that connects up to brain areas responsible for movement, focus, and awareness in a manner so far unknown. Nature Neuroscience published the details of the discovery on February 23rd.

In 6 years Momentum has become the motor of renewal for research at MTA’s institutes and at universities as proved by the work of close to 100 research groups, HUF 4 billion spent in support, and the fast rise of gifted young minds in the domestic science community.

Shale gas is not a panacea to solve energy concerns in Europe. This is what a recently published document of EASAC (European Academies Science Advisory Council) maintains. The stand it took is congruent with what researchers here asked by mta.hu believe, all of them warning about the uncertainties that may be caused by unprospected deposits, decrease in oil prices, and environmental concerns.

A winner of MTA Visiting Scientist Programme, generative linguist Marcel den Dikken spends 10 months at MTA's Research Institute for Linguistics. The internationally renowned scholar temporarily left the CUNY Graduate Center in New York in order to work with Hungarian fellow researchers.

Key to mankind’s future energy supply are fusion reactors whose development is presently at an experimental stage. One of the largest such facilities, the pillar on which Europe’s fusion research is to rest, is to become servicable by this summer in Germany. The video diagnostic system of the facility has been developed in MTA’s Wigner Physics Research Centre.

Researchers assessing biodiversity in the future will be supported by a simple and new conceptual framework describing the interaction between nature and society. The system devised by IPBES with the GA of the UNO and 108 member states has drawn on a number of disciplines and term banks. As a result, it is likely to change our ways of thinking and it may lead to new discoveries.

In her book published at the beginning of this year Monika Fuxreiter, the head of the Momentum Research Group on Protein Dynamics of MTA-DEA, presents new computerised methods of studying proteins that keep adapting to constantly changing environmental conditions. The significance of the volume published by CRC Press can be seen in the fact that Chemical Nobel Laureate 2013 Arieh Warshel contributed its Preface.

Cultural shift and cooperation are the two concepts most often mentioned by several leaders of MTA Research Centre for Natural Sciences to the reporter of mta.hu during his visit to the new building inaugurated two years ago. From our reporter who spent a day at MTA TTK this is the first part of a series of reports to showcase the work going on in that network of MTA research institutions.

Throughout 2014, the regional committees of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences have been engines of scientific life of the regions concerned and enlivened community interactions. By organizing a wide variety of programmes, they have helped propagate scientific findings.

Costas G. Papadopoulos, physicist, is spending 6 months at MTA-DE Particle Physics Research Group participating in the Visiting Scientist Program of MTA. The scientist joins the particle physics research conducted at University of Debrecen upon the invitation of Zoltán Trócsányi, Member of MTA.

In the research centres and institutes of MTA this year again a number of discoveries have been made that have been duly appreciated in scientific arenas both inside and outside Hungary. In our three-part end-of-the-year summary you can look at some of the varied activities and most important accomplishments of the MTA research network.